WINTER | COVER FEATURE
about trying to sell watches but also telling the story of timekeeping and why it is so important in key moments in sport .
The experience begins as people queue for the Tower , with an engagement activation involving geolocation and AR tech , and Smyle ’ s focus on gamification will see the delivery of a series of immersive activations including a 50 metre running track enabling visitors to compete against Olympic athletes .
Says Margetson , “ We wanted to have a competition where they can run against any athlete from the past 100 years of the Olympic or Paralympic Games . They pick their MetaHuman , who will appear on an XR Wall next to them and then get on the blocks and run against them . We have a wire cam tracking them as they go down the track , and that footage then goes into Unreal Engine . The visitor gets a beautiful little vignette of a film , think Hollywood trailer . The aim is , of course , to get the activation to a wider audience , and that kind of high value asset is highly shareable .”
Talent for AI AI has very much been the buzz acronym of 2023 , and , unsurprisingly , Artificial Intelligence ( AI ) is making considerable impact on the way agencies are bringing brand activations to life . Margetson says that among the many advantages of AI is the ability to make best use of the limited available time with featured ‘ talent ’.
“ We are using AI to create conversational media so that people are able to engage with talent virtually via lifelike representations on screen . They can ask a question , and we work out what the best answer is instantly , it ’ s almost like they ’ re in front of you . After a minute or so , it is like you ’ re having a proper conversation with that person , and it becomes shareable .”
Margetson says that the use of AI is also opening up possibilities to broaden the accessibility of activations and events to people who
may have previously been hindered by disabilities .
“ We are very focused on diversity , equity and inclusion , and what we ’ re finding is the use of technology can help to provide more equitable experiences for people regardless of physical disability , language differences , and even things like extrovert / introvert dynamics .
“ Events are typically designed for extroverts . If someone is an introvert or on the neurodiversity spectrum that can mean them being quite an unpleasant or at least unwelcoming experience . Technology can help . For example , we can use matchmaking technology to help people connect with one another , even if they ’ re not an extrovert . We can use geofencing technology to pair up people who should be having a chat but wouldn ’ t normally because they ’ re too reserved to go up and just introduce themselves to someone . Their mobile device can ping them and say , ‘ You ’ re standing really close to Matt right now , he and you have several shared characteristics . You guys should have a chat .’ That can help people to overcome that introvert / extrovert dynamic .”
“ We ' re trying to integrate data capture moments within an experience .”
Meta at Davos
Margetson says AI is also being used for automatic live translation of content , which enables captioning of content on mobile devices , which also helps people who are hearing impaired : “ We ’ re bringing that into the event space to make it more accessible for everybody .”
Hyper-personalisation The delivery of branded experiences and events are now not only more accessible and immersive than ever , they are also becoming more personalised . Emotion sensing technology is increasingly being used to monitor how a crowd is collectively responding to environments , content and situations .
Says Margetson , “ Emotion sensing involves facial analysis , and they ’ re even tapping into smartwatches to analyse what different pulse rates mean . The use of data in a live environment to measure the impact of an event or activation is skyrocketing . That used to be done
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